Osmos for iPad. An engrossing game that provides hours of relaxing fun

Osmos for iPad. An engrossing game that provides hours of relaxing fun

Osmos [rating: 4.5/5]

As an iPhone 4 and iPad owner it always pleases me when a game is released that plays on both devices, it makes me feel like I’m getting something for nothing and when a game is as good as Osmos is it makes it all the more satisfying to know that I can play it where ever I am on which ever device I have at the time.

So what is Osmos? Osmos is a physics game where the aim is grow your mote to larger than all the others. Your mote is like a living organism that can absorb other motes by simply running into them.

You move your mote around by tapping the out edge of it that propels some of it’s energy out of it propelling it in the opposite direction. This enables a perfect balance between movement and minimizing the loss of your energy. As you move around the environment you will run into other motes absorbing them into yourself and growing larger and larger as you do.

Time is also under your control and you can either reduce or increase time/speed by dragging your finger left and right across the screen. The control of time is very accurate and be the difference between enveloping and being enveloped!

The game takes you steadily through a learning process which guides you through the controls and the 8 different levels that each offer a unique twist on the game. Some of the environments are circular while others are rectangular, some small, some large and while some levels will require you to simply become the largest organism in the environment some will task you with the same challenge while under attack from aggressive motes while others will have you spinning through a solar system with all the effects from the gravitational pull of the largest motes.

This variety that Osmos offers keeps things interesting whether you are playing through the Odyssey or Arcade modes.

With the unique gaming style that Osmos offers, you wouldn’t think that it needed anything else to make it the success that it deserves to be, however it’s not only the game play that makes Osmos stand out from the crowd.

The graphics in Osmos are stunningly beautiful in their simplicity, the colors and shapes move and morph effortlessly and while zooming closely into the action gives you the detail zooming far, far out especially on the solar system style levels provides an image of enormity on both the iPad’s large display and the smaller displays of the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The whole game is held together with a great soundtrack of ambient electric music from different artists. As if that wasn’t enough the game is OpenFeint enabled offering 13 different achievements to unlock and share with your friends.

The only thing missing is a two player mode where you could fight your opponent to be the first to grow the largest and absorb the other. Who know’s perhaps this will be available in a future update.

Osmos and Osmos for iPad is as close to gaming perfection it it’s genre that I’ve ever played. This may be because it’s in a genre all of it’s own but regardless of that it’s the best $5 you’ll ever spend in the App Store.

3 Comments on “Osmos for iPad. An engrossing game that provides hours of relaxing fun”

Thanks for the review and the video. Osmos app looks just amazing! And what I like most about this game — it's kind of developing, cause it's based on the real laws of physics. So it can be used, for example, to cultivate love for studying physics in children.